


perspective

by LiveLaughLovex



Category: Rush (TV 2008)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Gen, Implied/Referenced Infidelity, Male Friendship, Post-Episode: s01e11 Episode Eleven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:01:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26959219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: She survived the operation, which was, in and of itself, nothing short of a miracle.(Post S1, E11. Grace lives, and Lawson comes to see just what she and Josh mean to each other.)
Relationships: Brendan Joshua & Lawson Blake, Grace Barry & Lawson Blake, Grace Barry/Brendan Joshua
Kudos: 3





	perspective

**Author's Note:**

> Is this fandom still really around, at this point? Not really. Am I still going to be driven to write dozens of stories for all these characters? Well, the answer to that is... yeah. Yes, apparently I am.

She survived the operation.

If her doctors were to be trusted – which Lawson still wasn’t sure they _were_ , seeing as they’d almost let Gracie _die_ before realizing the headache she’d been complaining of was actually something much more serious – that in itself was nothing less than a miracle.

If things had gone even slightly differently, if the seizing had started even five minutes later, she would have been too far gone by the time they got her up to the operating room. They likely would’ve lost her on the table.

Lawson tried not to think on that too much. It wasn’t what had happened, after all. Gracie was alive and well, resting in a bed just down the hall. The neurosurgeon they’d called in to perform the operation had reassured him she’d make a full recovery, and then reassured the rest of the team, as well, all twenty-six times they asked. There was no point in worrying about what hadn’t happened.

There wasn’t any point in it, but that didn’t mean he could stop himself. Gracie was like a little sister to him, and she’d almost died not even six hours earlier. That wasn’t the sort of thing somebody could just shake off. Well. It wasn’t the sort of thing _Lawson_ could shake off, anyway.

Connor had left hours before, not wanting to be around the lot of them any longer. He told Lawson to tell Grace she’d gotten her way, that the papers would be on their way the next morning. He’d be gone before she returned from hospital at the end of the week.

“She’s free to stay here, get herself killed trying to save you lot from yourselves,” had been the bastard’s parting words, and it had taken all of Lawson’s willpower, as well as Kerry’s presence, to keep him from knocking the weasel on his ass, right there in the middle of that hospital waiting room.

“Go, sit with her,” Kerry urged quietly, pulling him from his thoughts and causing him to raise his eyes to meet hers. She huffed quietly, shaking her head. “Go on then, Lawson. The rest of us are here, waiting for news on Dom. We’ll radio you just as soon as we know anything new.” Sensing his hesitation, she waved him off. “Sergeant Joshua shouldn’t be by himself, Senior Sergeant Blake. Go be with your friends. We’ll tell you the minute the doctor gives us an update, I swear to you.”

Lawson hesitated for a moment more, then nodded once, pushing himself up and heading down the hall to Grace’s room, where Josh had been holding vigil for the past several hours, ever since they brought her in after surgery. “The very second, alright?”

“The very second,” the inspector confirmed once more, sounding mildly exasperated. Lawson could tell, though, by the understanding glint in her gaze, that she understood exactly why he felt the need to double – and then triple – check.

Grace was still asleep by the time he made it to her room, but Josh wasn’t. The sergeant was seated at her bedside, both hands holding fast to one of hers. He looked more terrified in that instant than he had at any other point, in all the time Lawson had known him, and there was no denying that what had happened that day had shaken the other man to his core.

“She’s doin’ alright, the doctors say,” he remarked quietly, pulling his teammate’s attention briefly away from the woman in front of him.

Josh simply nodded.

“Connor’s left.” Josh nodded again, offering no other sign he’d heard what Lawson said, and the senior sergeant blew out an irritated breath, crossing his arms over his chest. “You gonna tell me just what it is that you two have been doing for the past couple months, or are you just hoping I’ll give up and draw my own conclusions, Josh? Because I already have, and let me tell you, none of them are all that pretty.”

His friend glanced up briefly, then hung his head in… defeat, maybe, or possibly shame; Lawson wasn’t quite sure. “Don’t reckon your conclusions are all that wrong.”

“I don’t reckon they are, either.” Lawson stared at him for a moment. “She’s always deserved a whole lot better than him, Josh. You know it as well as I do. He… well, he’s just never _understood_ Gracie, has he?”

“No,” Josh agreed hoarsely, finally meeting his gaze. “He hasn’t.”

Lawson nodded once, sharply. “She deserves more than that. But, Josh, she deserves more than _this_ , too. Not you,” he hastened to add, noting the way his friend’s eyes shot to his, fearsome glare already in place. “But _this_? She’s a married woman, a Senior Constable with Tactical Response, and she has been stepping out on her husband for months now with a man that doesn’t just work with her, but also outranks her. You know as well as I do that they’ll destroy her the second this thing goes public, and the two of you… well.” He heaved a sigh, leaning back against the wall and staring out the room’s only window. “The two of you didn’t exactly make it easy for us to cover for you, not after what you did back there, at the scene. Tons of people witnessed that, you know.”

“I know.” The sergeant’s voice was low, and his eyes never left Grace’s face. “I told her I loved her. That was…” He scrubbed a hand down his face, tears glistening in his eyes as he looked up, just for a moment, to meet the senior sergeant’s gaze. “That was the last thing I said, before she fainted.”

“Ah.” Lawson considered him for a moment, unsure of what to say. “Well, at least she went under with a good memory then, yeah?” He looked over at her, at Grace and the half-dozen machines surrounding her, and then back to Josh. “The second this impacts either of you at work – the bloody _second_ , Josh, I swear – one of you’ll have to leave.”

Josh’s eyes shot to his, incredulous. “You’re not booting one of us out now?”

Lawson shrugged. “Figure you’ve been half in love with her since the second you met her, and it hasn’t caused an issue yet. I trust you both to know your own limits. You’re good coppers, the both of you. I’d hate to lose either one of you, and I’ve already got the sign-off from Kerry, says I don’t have to. Now, if you get her in a family way or decide you want to marry her, I lose most of my say, but for now, you two are welcome to stay with TR unless you screw up badly enough to be _unwelcome_ with TR, are we clear?”

“Clear,” Josh confirmed, eyeing him strangely. “Did you just say if I _get her in a family way_?”

“Really, mate?” Lawson scoffed defensively. “ _That’s_ the part that stuck with you?”

“No, I heard all of it,” the sergeant assured him. “It’s just… nobody says _get her in a family way_ , really. Haven’t since the ’60s, I’d guess.”

“Cut me some slack, yeah? I love the girl like a sister. You’re lucky I haven’t dragged you out of here by your ear, knocked some sense into you. Not that I think any beating in the world would actually make you leave her.” He looked over at the other man seriously, the dark glint in his eyes more of a glare than it was anything else. “That’s the only reason you’ve still got all your teeth, just so we’re clear.”

“Understood.” His friend’s amused grin faded into something much gentler as his gaze wandered, once more, to the sleeping woman propped atop approximately a half-dozen pillows on the bed in front of him. “She’ll wake up, won’t she?”

“Yeah, mate,” Lawson agreed quietly, his own eyes drifting to Grace’s unconscious form. He studied her for a moment, trying his hardest to pretend the very sight of her there, in that bed, looking so small and so helpless, didn’t put a pit in his stomach. “She’s going to wake up.”

(She did, two hours later, half an hour after Dom. She opened her eyes slowly, flinching away from the light. Her brown eyes met Josh’s green, right there next to her, and she offered him a smile brighter than any sunrise Lawson had ever witnessed.

In that moment, the senior sergeant was struck by two realizations.

First, the whole lot of them were bloody idiots for not catching onto this much, _much_ sooner.

And second, that no matter what happened next, as long as Gracie and Josh had each other, well…

As long as Gracie and Josh had each other, they’d be just fine.)


End file.
